Words Unspoken
by IconofSelfIndulgence
Summary: Sanji wouldn't call it a fear of blood. It was more like a fear of Zoro's blood. ZoSan, character study. Set after Thrillar Bark into 2 Year skip. A little bit AU and gender-switching.


A/N: Another drabble from tumblr. This one is ZoSan centric. In this, though, after the two year skip, Zoro manages to piss off Ivankov and gets turned into a woman. This is a character study of sorts after Thrillar Bark into the 2 year skip. The scene at the end is inspired by the scene in Casino Royal when Eva Green's character (I forgot her name) is in the shower trying to get the blood off her hands. So yeah. Enjoy, mon cheris.

* * *

Sanji wouldn't necessarily call it a fear of blood.

It was more like a _fear of Zoro's blood_.

When the cook had discovered the swordsman standing there, clothes ripped, standing there with pride, he had been so relieved. Zoro had survived. The son of a bitch lived through Kuma's pain-switch. Or maybe he hadn't gone through with it at all?

But when he had gotten a closer look, his worst nightmares had been confirmed. Sanji took a step back, feeling the sickening desire to vomit. Roronoa Zoro was covered in blood from head to toe, barely alive, his eyes red with pain and exhaustion. The cook scrambled back and tripped over his own feet, falling in front of him. His heart was racing, his vision blurring; it was as if Zoro had knocked him out all over again.

"O-Oi!" He had said, not know what to say - not knowing if Zoro was even alive. He hadn't moved. Sanji hadn't seen him breathing.

But finally, the Marimo - the bravest man Sanji knew - turned his gaze down on the cook and said in a raspy voice, "Aho-cook." He fell to his knees and dropped down face first onto the rubble.

Sanji was shaking. He would never admit that there were tears streaming down his cheeks. He couldn't stop sobbing, unable to process what had actually just occurred. Zoro had trusted he would find him. What if Sanji had never come, never asked to take his life instead? Would Zoro have died, since someone would have found him too late? He finally vomited. He was so much weaker than Zoro, it sickened him.

It didn't take him long to compose himself, and he hoisted the swordsman onto his back. Zoro's blood was all over the rocks, and continued to drip over his face, his shirt, and in his hair. By the time Sanji got back to the others - which was quite fast, actually - he was nearly as covered as Zoro. He dropped the swordsman on a cot Chopper had set up, Sunny not too far away at this point, and moved away from everyone. He heard callings of his name, but he ignored them, instead pulling his ruined pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

He stood before Sunny, cigarette in his mouth, hands shaking to try and get the lighter on. The cook finally gave up and hurried up to the ship. Not a soul. Good. He entered the bathroom and stared at his reflection. Surely that couldn't have been him! His blond hair had been died slightly red from where the swordsman's head rested, and his clothes were covered in blood. When he had to change positions, when his body couldn't handle Zoro's weight any longer, blood had gotten on his face.

Sanji ripped off his clothing and nearly dived into the hot water. He scratched at his skin with the soap, trying to get all of the blood off him - all of Zoro's blood. He was sobbing the whole way through, scrubbing and scrubbing, scratching and clawing until he wasn't sure if it was his own blood or the swordsman's. Just seeing the red on his hands made him see the bloodied man before him, dying.

Zoro was dying.

Zoro's blood was all over him.

He scratched more.

Finally, when he couldn't anymore, when his skin felt so raw it had to be clean, he walked naked to his room. He dried off and stared at himself in his mirror. He looked like himself again, all clean — and then the image flashed to him being covered again. Sanji put his hands over his face and shook his head. No, no, no! No. Zoro wasn't dying. It hadn't been his blood.

No. He refused to believe it. Sanji was too physically drained to button a shirt, so he threw on a hoodie he hadn't worn in quite some time, and a pair of black jeans similar to the slacks he wore. Finally, he made his way back to camp to see Chopper; his side was killing him.

—

"Aho-cook."

Blood everywhere. All over him, his dress, his bed, his room. All of it was Zoro's blood. The swordsman stood before him, ghostly and pale, giving him that same look.

Zoro hadn't survived, and all of his blood was on Sanji's hands.

The scream echoed throughout the island. An okama, Sally, ran to his aid. Sanji pushed past him and hurried into the bathroom, ripping up his dress on the way. He got into the bath and began scrubbing until all of the blood was off him -

"Sanji-chan?"

Sanji stared at him, wild-eyed. And then he blinked a few times. There was no blood, just scratches. It had been a dream—no. A nightmare. But Zoro hadn't died (maybe). His blood wasn't on Sanji's hands.

Or maybe it was.

—

Sanji wanted to touch Zoro, to feel that he was alive. He had a scar on his face; Sanji wondered how he had gotten it. But suddenly, as the swordsman approached him after getting off the wrong ship, Sanji saw his bloody reflection all over again. He saw Zoro all over again, still there. Two years ago.

No. Zoro was alive. He wasn't bleeding.

But he was a girl. Sanji blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes.

"Woah, wait - you have boobs?"

—

How they managed to get into this, Sanji wasn't sure. But Zoro was filled with a blood lust, eying their enemies with a sadistic gaze that Sanji found foreign. The cook ignored it, instead kicking down and breaking bones of anyone who had got into his way.

And then he saw their enemy get a good swing at Zoro. The blood began to drip down her forehead. Sanji felt his body tense, and he hesitated kicking the next man - almost allowing the man to skewer him. But he managed to get over that, shaking his head. No. It wasn't like that any more.

But the sound of steel on steel wasn't promising. Sanji turned back to the fight sometime later, onto to see the front of her robe covered with blood. The sudden fear overcame him, the vision distracted him enough to get knocked down hard. He heard a mocking laugh above him seconds later. She stood above him, grinning with a bloody smile.

Sanji felt faint. Zoro knelt beside him. "Oi, eyebrows, you OK? That guy hit you too hard?" She smirked. Sanji ripped off his jacket and pushed the swordsman down, which got her to yell in surprise. Sanji pushed the clothing over her wound, putting pressure on it, trying to stop the bleeding. She was at a loss for words when she saw that manic look in his eye. Any comment or insult she had was lost at the tip of her tongue. Instead, she watched as he cursed under his breath, trying to get the bleeding to stop…

"Hey, I'm fine!" Zoro snapped out of it. "Come on, shitcook! Get off me!" Luckily, that had alarmed Chopper, who raced over to look at the other's wounds.

Sanji disappeared into the kitchen after giving her a look of dispair.

—

Once Zoro had gotten bandaged, she went to go investigate to see what the royal fuck was up with the cook. The main bathroom was empty. (She checked because she knew the bastard always showered after a good fight. The guy was too clean.) She could hear the water running in his room, though, and entered without his permission because she didn't need it.

She never expected to open the cook's bathroom door to see him sitting in the shower, still fully clothing, shaking under the cold water. Zoro could see the tears in his eyes and approached with caution. The other seemed to be too far away to realize she was even there until the glass door slid open. Sanji only looked up at her, miserable.

"Hey…" Zoro said, unusually soft. The water soaked her immediately, and she dropped to sit next to the cook, too concerned to act like an asshole.

"It - it won't come off." Sanji said weakly, shivering as he held up his hand.

Zoro stared with widened eyes at the blood on his hands. She could only assume that it was her blood from before. "What - " And then she turned to look into his eyes. He wasn't there, he was -

A vision flashed before her eyes. She stood before a trembling cook, on the brink of death, covered in blood. Oh. Oh. The swordsman almost wanted to hit him. How could that still affect him? But then again… she could have died. Did the other really care about her so much? Zoro didn't know what was controlling her, but she took the hand and took a finger into her mouth, sucking off the blood. She repeated this until the blood was off his fingers, and then smiled at him. "There, see?"

Sanji glanced down to his hand. There was still a little blood left, but it was considerably less. He nodded his head weakly. "Do you want to warm up?" Zoro asked, gentle, and when he nodded again she turned the water from cold to hot.

And then she really didn't know what possessed her, because she wrapped her arms around him.

Zoro honestly couldn't say how long they sat there, just like that, with the the sound of water hitting glass.


End file.
